Perry faces Tea Party heat over immigration

Texas Tea Party leaders are unhappy with Gov. Rick Perry’s immigration-related positions and want him to call another special legislative session to give state lawmakers a third opportunity to ban sanctuary cities.

Gov. Rick Perry

“This is an issue that is simmering and bubbling up to the surface … We are tired of lip service. We are fed up. We are fed up, too Gov. Perry,” Texas Tea Party Caucus Advisory Committee chair JoAnn Fleming of Tyler said Monday.

Perry declared sanctuary cities an emergency issue in January and put it back on the legislative agenda in June after lawmakers failed to approve legislation during the regular session. Legislation to ban so-called sanctuary cities – and subject anyone stopped for a traffic violation to document their citizenship – also failed during the special session.

Tea Party leaders said they thought they had Perry’s support following a June 28th meeting in the governor’s Capitol office.

“I left the room with the impression that a second special session would be an option,” said Katrina Pierson, founder of the Garland Tea Party and a member of the Dallas Tea Party steering committee.

Do Tea Party leaders actually think Perry will temporary sideline his presidential campaign to preside over a contentious special session on illegal immigration?

“I think there’s a possibility. There are so many calls from people from other states. People really want to know what’s going on in Texas,” Pierson said.

The response from the governor’s office is not likely to satisfy Tea Party leaders.

Blame lawmakers for not acting on Perry’s efforts to ban sanctuary cities, said Lucy Nashed, spokeswoman for the governor.

“The governor appreciates their support for this and would encourage them to talk to their legislators in the Legislature,” she said of the Tea Party leaders. “The governor already made this a priority, and the Legislature didn’t pick it up. Let their legislators know.”

Fleming said she and other Tea Party leaders are not concerned that a special legislative session would conflict with Perry’s presidential campaign.

“It’s not our business to run his campaign and to figure out his polticial strategy, spin or whatever on any issue,” she said. “We want to make sure that our colleagues around the country in the Tea Party….grassroots movement that they have their questions answered.

“We figured there might not be a good chance of that happening unless we called it out,” she said.

Maria Martinez,executive director of the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas, and others believe that legislative leaders conspired to purposely ensure that sanctuary cities legislation would die. Several business leaders in the home building and food industries opposed it.

“We witnessed the use of tricks, delays and special deals to (help) cheap-labor advocates,” Martinez said.

More than 40 immigration-related bills were introduced this year, but only 21 got a hearing and all but two died, she complained.

“He needs to address whether he is serious about illegal immigration,” Martinez said.

Tea Party leaders told Perry during their June 28th meeting with him that it “wouldn’t look good” if he tried to run a national campaign with a failed illegal immigration policy hanging around his neck.

Pushing legislation that some perceive to be anti-immigrant also could hurt Perry.

Many Texas police chiefs did not support the sanctuary city ban.

Some religious leaders from Hispanic congregations also opposed the sanctuary cities legislation out of fear it would tear apart families when a parent is deported. They also warned that members of their congregations would not report crimes to police or participate as witnesses for fear of being questioned about their citizenship

Pastor William Ross Fowler, leader of a Fort Worth Hispanic church, described himself as a Republican during a recent legislative hearing when he asked GOP lawmakers why they would want to alienate Hispanics.

He called the legislation “a political grandstand for somebody’s future political career.”

In addition to calling a special session, Perry also has the option of issuing an executive order to address some of the immigration-related problems, said Ken Emanuelson, Dallas Tea Party coordinator.

For example, Perry would direct Department of Public Safety troopers to ask motorists about their immigration status after making lawful traffic stops, Emanuelson said.

He blames “crony capitalism” for defeat of the sanctuary cities bills.

“There is a cheap labor lobby in this state that is getting rich off of this,” Emanuelson said.